Unleashing Readers

Sofia’s YA Book Nook: Sequels and Prequels Worth Reading

October 23, 2025 by Ricki

Sofia is a 13-year-old brilliant reader who aspires to be a book reviewer. Since she was 8 years old, on select weeks, Sofia shares her favorite books with other young people her age! She is one of the most well-read youth that we know, so she is highly qualified for this role!

Dear readers,

Hello, it’s Sofia again and welcome to another book review! Today I am talking about sequels (or prequels) that I have read that have been as good or better than the original book! I have made this list because I know that when I finish a book, most of the time the sequel hasn’t come out yet and I just forget about the original book. This means that I only learn about the sequel through a book review, or I stumble upon it by chance in the library! I am hoping this book review will make you aware of a sequel to a book you have enjoyed, or just inspire you to start a new duology! Also, all of the original books will have my book review for them linked, just click on the underlined title!

Heist Royale, sequel to Thieves Gambit

Let me introduce you to the book that started this idea… Heist Royale by Kayvion Lewis! I have already read and reviewed the first book in the series, Thieves Gambit and I loved it! If you want to learn more about the first book in the series, just click on the underlined Thieves Gambit! Fun fact, this was actually the only sequel I read within a month of it coming out! That is how excited I was for it! Anyway, onto the actual review! I already had high expectations for this book but it surpassed them all. In the book, Ross is pulled back into playing a competition similar to the Thieves Gambit after she and her family are threatened by their enemy, Devroe’s mom. The organization is willing to accept a new leader so Count and Baron step forward. They ask Ross and her friends to pick sides for a new competition between them, splitting them in two. As Ross and her friends are pulled apart from each other, Ross is devastated by her friends leaving her. As she gets sucked into another high-stakes game, she has to figure out the importance of her friends, and her family. You will absolutely love this book if you have read Thieves Gambit, or watched movies like Now You See Me, or the Ocean’s movies, since Heist Royale has the same atmosphere.

The First to Die at the End, prequel to They Both Die At the End and

The Survivor Wants to Die at the End, sequel to They Both Die at the End

Welcome to…The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera! If you have read the original book, you know how sad and emotional this author’s writing is! This book I actually think is better than the original, which is saying a lot because They Both Die at the End was phenomenal! The First to Die at the End is told from many perspectives, but mainly Orion and Valentino, who are the main characters. This prequel is all about the day that the service DeathCast was created, and the havoc that ensued. It shows perspectives from two young adults, the creator of the service, and other people that we meet along the way. This was a very moving book and really emphasizes that any day could be your last and to live life to the fullest. This is a beautiful book and I would highly encourage you to read it! You can also read this without reading the original but it makes more sense if you read They Both Die at the End first!

Since the time of writing this review, I have also read The Survivor Wants to Die at the End, which is an amazing sequel to the first book in the series! It shows you the perspective of a highly suicidal boy named Paz, and the complex perspective of Alano (the Death-Cast heir). As the story continues, you get to see Paz and Alano’s friendship develop, with many sharp bumps along the way. For The Survivor Wants to Die at the End, I would highly recommend reading They Both Die at the End first, since reading this would spoil the first book and also be confusing. In terms of content advisories, The Survivor Wants to Die at the End was the most emotionally intense to me, but all of the books in the series are pretty heavy. Some topics include suicide, self-harm, dealing with mental health, and grief.

Past, Present, Future, sequel to Today, Tonight, Tomorrow

Drumroll please, Past, Present, Future by Rachel Lynn Solomon! Wow, this book really was a rollercoaster of emotions. It is about Rowan and Neil, the two characters who fell in love in the first book, Today, Tonight, Tomorrow, during high school, now managing their relationship while in college. They are both studying in different places on the East Coast, which is far from their homes in Seattle and handling making friends and keeping up with classes. They mostly communicate via technology but they visit each other every couple of months which is hard for them since they are used to being able to spend all of their time with each other. When Rowan starts struggling in her Creative Writing class and questions whether she should be a writer, Neil is also questioning his major, Linguistics. They realize that maintaining a romantic relationship while in college may not be as easy as it seems. When family issues strike Neil, he chooses to distance himself from Rowan and their relationship. Past, Present, Future is a heartfelt, emotional story about two college students exploring and managing their relationship while far away from each other. I highly recommend this book and am honestly mad I didn’t read it sooner. Like the original, this is a book with two perspectives, one from Rowan and one from Neil and it is always so interesting to see their lives from their own and partner’s perspectives.

Kill Joy, prequel/novella to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

Please welcome, Kill Joy by Holly Jackson! It is a novella of the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series that takes place before the first book. It is a short read which I quickly finished on my road trip this Spring Break. It is set at one of Pip’s friends’ houses as they are having a murder mystery birthday party, where each friend pretends to be a character in the story while simultaneously trying to solve the murder. In the story, the friends are all on an island to celebrate Reginald Remy’s birthday when he is suddenly found dead! The friends are acting as different people who are attending this birthday party like his sons and the cook. Together, Pip and her friends must find out who the killer is through a series of clues that lead them closer to the answer! Overall, this book is a fun addition to the series, with lower stakes while still being fun and entertaining! I also really enjoyed how the ending of Kill Joy ties right into the beginning of the first book in the series. If you are wondering in what order to read the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series, I would read the first book, then this novella and then the rest of the books in their respective order. This way, you already know the characters going into the novella but don’t get too confused by having already read all of the other books.

I hope you enjoy reading these books and the other ones in their series!

**Thanks so much, Sofia!**

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 10/20/25

October 25, 2025October 20, 2025 by Ricki

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
For readers of all ages

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog hop we host which focuses on sharing what we’re reading. This Kid Lit version of IMWAYR focuses primarily on books marketed for kids and teens, but books for readers of all ages are shared. We love this community and how it offers opportunities to share and recommend books with each other.

The original IMWAYR, with an adult literature focus, was started by Sheila at Book Journeys and is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. The Kid Lit IMWAYR was co-created by Kellee & Jen at Teach Mentor Texts.

We encourage you to write your own post sharing what you’re reading, link up below, leave a comment, and support other IMWAYR bloggers by visiting and commenting on at least three of the other linked blogs.

Happy reading!

There were no posts last week because I (Ricki) had COVID! 🙂

Kellee

Today is my day off from IMWAYR, but you can learn more about any of the books I’ve been reading by checking out my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

Picture Book

This picture book is absolutely gorgeous. I haven’t been doing full reviews lately, but I will absolutely be reviewing this book in full—it blew me away. And They Walk On by Kevin Maillard.

Middle Grade

Kyle Lukoff does a phenomenal job capturing the characters’ hearts in A World Worth Saving. I appreciated the Jewish representation, and the main character is trans. His parents are doing conversion therapy for him, but then some very unexpected events occur, starting with his good friend going missing.

Young Adult

I am trying to read all of the Walden Award finalists because they are always really good, and Grief in the Fourth Dimension by Jennifer Yu did not disappoint. It’s a book about two kids who recently died and are sitting in a sort of purgatory room—watching over their loved ones. I cried a lot while reading this book.

I had never read Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, so I decided to try it out. It was very enjoyable.

Tall Water by SJ Sindu and Dion MBD is a graphic novel about a girl who visits Sri Lanka to meet her mother for the first time in 16 years. This story has so much heart.

Angeline Boulley’s Sisters in the Wind is a phenomenal book that I can’t share much about because there would be so many spoilers. I found the story riveting—and the main character exists in the world of the previous two books!

I convinced my book club to read a YA book, and we read Heir by Sabaa Tahir. Every time I read one of her books, I am just floored by her talent. This book follows three characters’ stories, and I felt like I fell into the world she created.

Adult

Max Barry’s Lexicon was a book club book that I didn’t choose but enjoyed. What I liked a lot about this book was that it explored the ethics of persuasion. I found this to be very interesting.

So many friends in Colorado have recommended Go As a River by Shelley Read, so I went for it. I appreciated the historical nature of this text and how place-based it was. It reminded me a lot of Broken Country.

My incredible coworker Sarah Perry wrote Sweet Nothings, a creative nonfiction text that explores many, many different types of candies. This is a book about much more than candy, though. Perry masterfully weaves in stories from her life and others—I loved it (and I swear I am not just saying that because I know her). This book made me want to journal, which I think is the sign of a really great book.!

Adult Romance

My sister-in-law loves Elle Kennedy, so I had to keep up with her by reading The Dixon Rule and The Charlie Method. These are some pretty spicy romances.

Thursday: Sofia’s YA Book Nook: Sequels and Prequels Worth Reading

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “My Hope” by Frank W. Baker, Author of Risk, Resilience, and Redemption: A Miraculous Holocaust Survival Story

Link up below and go check out what everyone else is reading. Please support other bloggers by viewing and commenting on at least 3 other blogs. If you tweet about your Monday post, tag the tweet with #IMWAYR!

and

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 10/13/25

October 13, 2025 by Kellee

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
For readers of all ages

Happy reading!

Wednesday: What Kellee’s Students Read in September

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Beyond ‘What’s Wrong?’: How the Stories in Our Classrooms Can Heal Fading Dreams, by Andrei Goanta, Author of The Library of Lost Dreams

**Click on any picture/link to view the post**

Kellee

Today is my day off from IMWAYR, but you can learn more about any of the books I’ve been reading by checking out my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

I’m sorry I can’t post today; I should be back on my next turn.

No posts this week–use this time to check out some of our other posts or posts by our IMWAYR blogs that link below.

and

Author Guest Post: “Beyond ‘What’s Wrong?’: How the Stories in Our Classrooms Can Heal Fading Dreams” by Andrei Goanta, Author of The Library of Lost Dreams

October 12, 2025October 12, 2025 by Kellee

“Beyond “What’s Wrong?’: How the Stories in Our Classrooms Can Heal Fading Dreams”

I think every parent and educator knows that moment. When a child comes home from school or retreats to a corner of the classroom, shoulders slumped, a silent storm brewing behind their eyes. You ask, “What’s wrong?” and the answer you get is a “Nothing” that shuts a door in your face. And you’re left on the other side, without a key. As a father, I’d often feel this sense of helplessness. I just wanted to understand what was truly going on in their heads and hearts.

So I started asking myself, what if I could actually see the story behind the sadness? The truth is, The Library of Lost Dreams didn’t start with some grand idea; it started right here, at home. The world of the library is, in essence, a map of my family’s heart.

My main character, Dahlia, has this deep empathy… it’s the same thing I see in my own daughter every day. That’s her superpower in the book, and I think it’s a real one in life, too. And Astra, the wise owl who guides Dahlia with such patience and strength? Yep, that’s my wife, our family’s steady compass.

But like any real family, things get a little mixed up. Anyone who has read Book 2, Journey into the Past, has met a much younger, more impulsive Astra. That whirlwind of unchecked joy, endless curiosity, and slightly chaotic energy? That is my son, Tudor, right there on the page.

And where do I fit in? It’s funny, I thought I was the wise guide, but I’m definitely more like Sol, the fluffy companion from Book 3. He’s this little ball of love and loyalty, but he’s also the guy cracking bad jokes. That’s my job in the family: bringing some goofy energy when things get heavy, while always being that loving, protective presence.

From My Home to Your Classroom: The Magic of Empathetic Listening

For me, that’s where the real magic is. It has nothing to do with spells. The power Dahlia uses is something we can all do: the simple, profound act of empathetic listening. It’s the power of saying, “I see you. I hear you. Your story matters.”

And I believe this idea works perfectly in a classroom. A child’s dream isn’t always about becoming an astronaut or a painter. Sometimes, the dream is simply to feel understood, to have the courage to ask a question, or to believe their voice is worth hearing. When these small dreams start to fade, when a student becomes quiet, withdraws, or says “I can’t,” that’s when we, as their Keepers of Stories, can step in.

We don’t need a magic portal to enter their world. We just need a set of keys. Here are three strategies, inspired by The Library of Lost Dreams, to help rediscover the fading dreams in your classroom:

1. The “Safe Chapter” Key: Creating a Space for Unspoken Stories

In the first book, a shadow called “The Silence” feeds on forgotten dreams and untold stories. In the classroom, this “Silence” can take the form of fear of making a mistake or anxiety about speaking up.

Classroom Application: Create a “Dream Journal” or a “Worry Box.” It doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be a special notebook where students can write or draw freely, without the fear of being graded. It could be a decorated shoebox where they can leave anonymous notes about their thoughts or fears. The goal is to provide a pressure valve, a safe space where their inner story can come to life without judgment. It’s a first step in showing a child that what they feel is valid, even if they aren’t ready to say it out loud.

2. The “Guiding Owl” Key: Providing the Compass, Not the Map

In the books, Astra acts as Dahlia’s compass, not her map. She doesn’t have all the answers, and she doesn’t pretend to. When faced with a shadow like “The Silence” or a new threat, her strength isn’t in providing a step-by-step solution, but in pointing Dahlia toward the only available path, even when the destination is unknown to them both. She trusts Dahlia’s unique power of empathy to navigate the parts of the journey that her own wisdom cannot.

Classroom Application: As educators, we often feel the pressure to be the “expert” with all the answers. This approach reminds us that sometimes, the most powerful thing we can do is admit we don’t know, and then become a co-explorer with the student.
- Instead of feeling you need a solution for a student’s problem, try validating the challenge: “That sounds really tough, and I don’t have an easy answer for you, but I’m here to think it through with you.”
- Frame challenges as shared quests: “I’m not sure what the best way to start this project is either. Let’s look at the very first possible step together.”
- Empower their unique skills: “You have such a creative way of looking at things. I’m stuck on this problem, but I have a feeling you might see something I don’t.” This transforms the dynamic from teacher/student to a team of adventurers. It shows children that it’s okay not to have all the answers and that their unique perspective is a valuable tool for finding the way forward, together.

3. The “First Draft” Key: Validating the Process, Not Just the Product

Many of the children Dahlia helps, like Rowan the painter or Rose the violinist, lost their dream because they were afraid the final result wouldn’t be “good enough.” They forgot the joy of the process.

Classroom Application: Celebrate the “first draft.” Praise the effort, the curiosity, and the courage to try, regardless of the outcome. When a student shows you a drawing, focus first on the joy behind it: “I can tell you had fun choosing these colors!” or “What a brave idea you had here!” When a student is struggling with a math problem, validate the persistence: “I really appreciate how you didn’t give up. Let’s look at the steps together again.” This shifts the focus from the pressure of perfection to the joy of exploration and teaches children that every attempt, even a “failed” one, is a valuable part of their learning story.

Whether we are parents at home or teachers in the classroom, we have an incredible role. We are the companions in our children’s stories. By helping them believe their voice is worth hearing, we give them the courage to face any shadow, in any world.

This little adventure that started with my kids has grown into a world I’m so happy to share. And just so you know, Book 1, The Library of Lost Dreams, and Book 2, Journey into the Past, are now out in their fully polished second editions. I am currently in the process of bringing Book 3, Journey into the Future, to that same standard. Afterward, I will begin writing the final book in this story arc, Parallel World. It will be a more intricate adventure designed for slightly older readers (10+), exploring even more complex emotional landscapes.

Thank you for letting me share a piece of my world with you.

Published July 9th, 2025

About the Book: The Library of Lost Dreams is about a young girl named Dahlia who has a pretty cool gift: she can feel the old stories and emotions that places hold. It leads her to a magical library, and it turns out every book there is a kid’s dream. The problem is, a shadow called “The Silence” is making the dreams fade. So Dahlia has to use her empathy (not magic spells) to jump into those dreams. She’s there to help other kids find their courage and start believing in their own stories again. The book is really all about how important it is to listen, and how no dream is ever really lost if someone just cares enough.

About the Author: As a dad, Andrei Goanta gets his best ideas from his kids. He writes worlds that he hopes are more than just fun and fantastical; he wants them to feel safe and real for young readers. You could say his series, The Library of Lost Dreams, is a love letter to imagination, to the guts it takes for any kid to share their story, and to the courage to be brave no matter what.

Thank you, Andei! We love books that celebrate imagination and the good in people!

Student Voices: What Kellee’s Students Read in September

October 8, 2025 by Kellee

What Kellee’s Students Were Reading in September

I thought we could do a beginning of the year check in with my middle schoolers to see what they are currently reading. My students do an It’s Monday! What are you reading? post whenever I do one here on Unleashing Readers; I love keeping up with what they’re currently reading and what they’ve thought of what they finished. Here is a roundup of the book covers, in no particular order although I tried to keep series/authors together, of middle school books that my Student Literacy Readers read in September:

What a variety! Here’s to more great reading!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 10/6/25

October 6, 2025 by Kellee

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
For readers of all ages

Happy reading!

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Asking ‘What If’ About Our Real-Life Experiences” by Kevin Garone, Author of Night of the Living Toilet Paper

**Click on any picture/link to view the post**

Kellee

You Only Live Once, David Bravo by Mark Oshiro: David Bravo is not liking middle school so far but then a magical creature shows up telling him that he can go fix a mistake in his past to fix his life–will it be that easy?! Obviously not, and what happens is a humorous and heartfelt look at our lives and how we make the decisions we do. This book, like Mark Oshiro’s other middle grade books, dealt with identity, but this time it was surrounded more by the unknown history of his adoption.
Love Craves Cardamom by Aashna Auachat: I loved this second book in the Love in Translation series! The first one was great, too–I can’t wait for the third! I can’t tell you my favorite part about the book because it spoils the ending, but I can say that the book deals with more than what a normal rom-com does and looks at love in all forms: self, family, friend, romantic, passions, etc. And the inclusion of history and art in the book just put it over the top for me!

And you can always learn more about any of the books I’ve been reading by checking out my read bookshelf on Goodreads.

Ricki

This is my week off; I will update you next week!

Kellee

I just finished Love Craves Cardamom and the discussion guide I was writing for it, so I am not sure what I am going to read next! I may continue the Trials of Apollo series or I may find something else!

Wednesday: What Kellee’s Students Read in September

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Beyond ‘What’s Wrong?’: How the Stories in Our Classrooms Can Heal Fading Dreams, by Andrei Goanta, Author of The Library of Lost Dreams

and

Author Guest Post: “Asking ‘What If’ About Our Real-Life Experiences” by Kevin Garone, Author of Night of the Living Toilet Paper

October 5, 2025 by Kellee

“Asking ‘What If’ About Our Real Life Experiences”

Attempting to float a mattress across a pond sounds like the kind of thing that could only happen in fiction. But it happened in real life.

I would know, since I was one of the few to watch as three of my friends attempted to sail a queen-sized mattress across a local pond on a cold December night. I’d helped haul the thing through the dark, but I was at least smart enough to not try to float alongside them in the freezing pond water.

As it turns out, mattresses aren’t the best flotation devices. About halfway across the pond, the mattress began to sink, and my friends had to abandon ship and swim back to shore. The mattress stayed visible below the surface for about a week before it finally sank to the bottom.

Now, hopefully most students aren’t going to get involved in activities like that. But ideally, they still have plenty of everyday experiences that they can use as the basis for their own stories.

This can be a helpful way to adjust the often-repeated writing advice to “write what you know.” When trying to get students interested in writing their own stories, this advice can feel incredibly vague, and even overwhelming.

After all, when you’re a kid, what do you really know? If you feel like you don’t truly “know” a lot about anything, it could intimidate you from writing anything.

That’s why I feel it’s important to take this advice a step further. Saying to “write what you know” can feel like you need to know a lot about history, science, or some other subject. On the other hand, reframing that in the lens of your real-life experiences can suddenly make writing a lot less intimidating. After all, storytelling is a natural part of our day and how we relate events, even if we don’t usually think of it in that sense.

By reframing the mindset, students can find stories just about anywhere. Inspiration could come from:

Participating on a sports team
Clubs and other activities
Playing in a band
Working a summer job
An incident that took place on a family trip
People-watching at a park or mall
Activities with friends
Classmates
Stories they’ve heard from friends or family

Of course, there are a few caveats to go along with this. For one, kids can’t just write down what happened to them in real life; not if we’re trying to help them truly flex their creative muscles. This is where asking “what if?” comes in.

An attempt to float a mattress across a pond serves as the opening of my book Night of the Living Toilet Paper, the second in my middle grade comedy horror series. The incident in the book certainly has a lot of similarities to real life, but it is firmly grounded in the world of the story.

In real life, floating a mattress happened on a whim (teenage boys can be dumb like that). In the book, Marv, who is obsessed with preparing for an alien invasion, does this as an experiment to see if a mattress could be used as a means of transportation after ETs take over. That simple change in the who and why helps take things in a different direction.

The main threat that Marv faces in this book (a giant toilet paper monster) is also very loosely adapted from a high school friend’s plan to toilet paper our school. His plan never came to fruition, but it was definitely the kind of thing that felt like it belonged in a story somewhere.

Bringing these real-life incidents into the book required looking at them through the lens of “what if?” For me, asking “what if?” usually means taking something loosely connected from my real life experiences and placing it in a more paranormal setting. It also helps to have read (and watched) plenty of spooky stories for inspiration.

Young writers might need some prompts to get the “what if” mindset going. But with the right nudge, they can start reframing their experiences in a way that helps them rethink how they can be creative and come up with their own stories.

Some example prompts could include:

What if one of your experiences happened to your favorite movie/video game/book character? How would it happen differently?
If you had done X instead of Y, what would have happened?
Put your real-life experience into the world of your favorite book, movie, or video game. How would this different setting change things?
What if you had a parent with you instead of your friends — or vice versa?

Hopefully, by helping kids see that there is potential for interesting stories anywhere, they can become more interested in storytelling themselves — and more interested in getting out and living life so they can have those experiences to draw from.

Published September 23, 2025 by Temor Press

About the Book: In the sequel to I Know What UFO Did Last Summer, a few months have passed since Marv and his friends stopped what he believes was an extraterrestrial plot to take over the planet. But he’s not letting his guard down. If there’s one thing Marv knows, it’s that aliens could attempt another invasion at any time.

So when he spots an unmanned motorcycle racing into the woods, pursued by a paranormal investigator, Marv’s instincts scream that something very weird is going on. Marv tracks down the bike and hauls it to his fort for closer inspection. That’s when he sees it: a Sleech—one of the creatures he encountered last summer—slithering out of the motorcycle’s tailpipe.

But when Marv returns to show his discovery to his friends, they find the fort completely destroyed. The only thing left is his emergency stockpile of toilet paper.

And it’s alive.

Now Marv and his friends must unravel the mystery of the Sleech before their entire town is overrun by a monstrous swarm of toilet paper. Because if they don’t stop it in time…

It’s going to wipe them out.

About the Author: Kevin Garone is the author of I Know What UFO Did Last Summer and its sequel, Night of the Living Toilet Paper. He lives with his wife and sons in Arizona. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him reading, playing video games, hiking, or cheering on his favorite sports teams. Visit him online at https://www.kevingarone.com/

Thank you, Kevin, for pushing us to push our writers by using their experiences and a dash of imagination!